Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Animal of the week fun!

When you think elephant, you probably think trunk. An adult African elephant's trunk is about seven feet (two meters) long! It's actually an elongated nose and upper lip. Like most noses, trunks are for smelling. But they're also for touching and grasping. When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant's throat. Since African elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. First they squirt a trunkful of cool water over their bodies. Then they often follow that with a sprinkling of dust to create a protective layer of dirt on their skin (think elephant sunscreen!). Elephants pick up and spray dust the same way they do water—with their trunks. Elephants also use their trunks as snorkels when they wade in deep water.An elephant's trunk is controlled by many muscles. Two fingerlike parts on the tip of the trunk allow the elephant to perform delicate maneuvers such as picking a berry from the ground or plucking a single leaf off a tree. The elephant can also use its trunk to grasp an entire tree branch and pull it down to its mouth. Elephants also use their trunks to yank up clumps of grasses and shove the greenery into their mouths. When an elephant gets a whiff of something interesting, it sniffs the air with its trunk raised up like a submarine periscope.
This information is from National Geographic.com

1 comment:

I'm a nanny for a little boy who LOVES animals and learning facts about them. I will share some of these posts with him. He will get a kick out of it.It's amazing how God has created each and every animal so unique!

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Hi there!

Welcome to Claire's Crazy Habitat!
My name is Claire Spencer. My blog is devoted to one of God's most amazing creations- animals! If you love animals as much as I do, then I'm sure you'll enjoy my blog. Happy reading!